In a national address Thursday night, President Bush spoke about his confidence in the war in Iraq. The speech elicited some interesting comments within the ISU community.

Don McDowell, consultant for ISU College Republicans and senior in political science, said he thought President Bush did an excellent job addressing the nation and that the speech was one of the president’s finest delivered during his presidency.

“I think this may be the speech that President Bush is remembered by. It may be the defining moment in his presidency,” McDowell said.

McDowell said President Bush continues to make it known that he will back the war until the end of his term and he does not see this changing.

“It is clear that President Bush wants to be known as the president who tried to stop terrorism altogether,” he said.

McDowell disagreed with some of the statements Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island made, and said Congress has the power to make changes soon instead of using “overheated rhetoric” to address the issue.

“Frankly, if the Democrats wanted to put their money where their mouth is, they could end the war tomorrow,” McDowell said.

Drew Garrison, vice president for the ISU chapter of Students for Barack Obama and senior in history, thought the president’s speech was just another way of saying the same thing he has been over the past few years.

“When next year comes around, we will be in exactly the same position we were before if we don’t have a change soon,” Garrison said.

Garrison said he thought the president seemed timid and made statements that were inconsistent with his past remarks.

Garrison believed Sen. Reed did a very good job addressing the real concerns of the war and making it clear that a longer stay in Iraq is unnecessary and unrealistic.

“At some point, the Iraq government has to make their own decisions without 150,000 troops with guns watching over them,” Garrison said. “Freedom for them will only come with the ability and capacity to make their own decisions.”